Apologies for picking one that’s a bit graphic. Because of said graphic nature you’ll need to click the link below to watch the video on YouTube.

Almost all of the videos involving future robotics or A.I. present a Promethean warning against what A.I. is going to do to us. I come to this from a very different angle. After spending weeks watching my young students, who are unable to not stare into the little screens in their hands, I decided to make a rule that their phones need to be in their backpacks and their backpacks in one of four designated storage areas in our classroom. But they manage to squirrel them away and hide them in their laps. The dead give away is having three or four heads bowed looking at the devices in their laps when I’m giving instructions on the next classroom task. I have to wonder, seeing this level of addiction with these small inanimate objects, what’s going to happen when the tech is almost indistinguishable from interacting with “living beings”? 

However you sense our nature to be, also knowing that these current devices and services are designed to be addictive, this video gets to the heart of questioning our relationship(s) with our technology and what that says about us. Hell, I know that when I’m on school wifi I can’t access FB or Twitter and I’m all the more aware of wanting to check my social media feed. So, I’m not pointing fingers. Truth be told, as the technology becomes more “life-like” It’s going to make the world that much more “interesting.” Enjoy.

Click here to watch “A Terrible Beauty”